Kevin Dwyer, 41, faces one charge of exposure following an encounter with the complainant during which she claims he was pleasuring himself, but he declared ‘at no point did this happen’ as he took the stand on the third day of his trial at Chester Crown Court today (May 25).

Offering jurors his explanation for the events surrounding the alleged incident on Francis Street in Newtown in the early hours of July 5, 2015, Dwyer said he left his home in Sunny Bank Close in Newton-le-Willows at around 12.15am to travel to Chester to see an old flame – whose identity he has refused to divulge because she is married.

Visit to old friend

He revealed that he did not contact her before he set off as they had an arrangement whereby if a light was on at her house and her husband’s car was not on the drive, he could ‘knock on’.

He went inside for a catch-up and a ‘couple of cups of tea’ before leaving, but as he was driving it occurred to him to scope out a Suzuki garage as he was in the market for a new motorbike and to also look for a B&B called Abbey View or Abbey Court which he had been recommended because he was considering staying there the next time he attended Chester Races.

He believed the B&B was located somewhere off Hoole Road, which is how he said he came to end up on Francis Street and how he came to be approached by the complainant.

The complainant earlier told the court she was walking along Francis Street when Dwyer’s Renault Megane pulled up near her at around 4am, and she became suspicious because the car had gone past her slowly a couple of times so she decided to confront him.

Dwyer claimed he was in the middle of searching for the B&B on his iPhone, which had ‘poor’ signal, when she appeared at his window.

She started asking him questions like what he was doing there and what he was looking for, he said, and he told her several times that everything was okay and he would ‘sort it’.

But then Dwyer said it occurred to him that she might have local knowledge so he asked her if she knew where Abbey View or Abbey Court was.

During this exchange, he says his mobile was in his left hand and his right hand was placed under his leg in a bid to ease a bout of cramp he occasionally gets from an old running injury.

Dwyer claimed the complainant said ‘I know why you are here mister’, before she proceeded to take photos of his car.

'False' allegation

During his interview with police following his arrest, Dwyer branded the complainant’s allegation that he exposed himself ‘sick’ and ‘false’.

Further details of the former Greater Manchester Police officer’s multiple previous convictions came to light.

Members of the jury heard that Dwyer pleaded guilty in February 2015 to two counts of voyeurism and 10 counts of outraging public decency over a seven-month period between October 1, 2013, and May 15, 2014.

Most of his offences involved covertly filming up the skirts and in between the legs of unsuspecting women on nights out, but two saw him filming strangers in their homes through gaps in their curtains.

Fetish 'got the better' of him

Asked by his defence counsel Simeon Evans why he committed these crimes, he answered: “I did it because at that time in my life I had a very unhealthy sexual fetish which got the better of me.”

A search of Dwyer and his car by police some two years ago on March 12, 2014, produced two bottles of lubricant and a pair of binoculars.

PC Michelle Flanagan recalled she had been called to the Garden Quarter during the early hours of that morning after a report was made concerning a suspicious male.

She asked him why he was there, to which she said he replied he had just been urinating and was in the area looking for properties for him and a friend to develop.

She and one of her colleagues searched his pockets and found a clear plastic pump dispenser on which ‘sexual lubricant’ was written.

They walked Dwyer back to his vehicle, where they discovered another dispenser of lubricant in the glovebox, along with binoculars and a toilet roll wrapped in a plastic bag in the footwell.

Report of suspicious male

PC Ed Flaherty also gave evidence in relation to an incident during the early hours of May 26, 2013.

He was working a night shift when he responded to a call of a suspicious male in a vehicle in the Garden Quarter.

There he found Dwyer, who matched the description of the male, so they conducted a search of him which proved negative.

According to PC Flaherty, Dwyer told them he was in the area looking for a house to buy so he could rent it out to students.

PC Flaherty said it struck him as suspicious that Dwyer was parked about half a mile away from the area in which he said he wanted to purchase buy to let property.

“It felt very wrong and he seemed quite confident on the face of things but beneath that he seemed quite nervous and worried,” added PC Flaherty.

But Dwyer insists he was in the area to view a piece of land which was for sale just off Whipcord Lane, not to look at houses.